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L. BOLLMANN. STEAM TURBINE. No. 584,203. Patented June 8, 1897.

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STEAM'TURBINE. No. 584,203. Patented June 8,1897.

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L. BOLLMANN. STEAM TURBINE. No. 584,203. Patented June 8,1897.

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L. BOLLMANN. STEAM TURBINE. No. 584,203. Patented June 8,1897.

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L. BOLLMANN. STEAM TURBINE;

No. 584,203. Patented June 8,1897.

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(No Model.) 9 Sheets-8heet 9 L. BOLLMANN.

STEAM TURBINE.

No. 584,203. Patented June 8,1897.

A. ////M/// w/ 9 UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

LOUIS BOLLMANN, OF VIENNA, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

STEAM-TURBINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 584,203, dated June 8, 1897.

Application filed April 25, 1896. Serial No. 589,032. (No model.) .Patentedin England April 5,1894, No. 6,822; in Austria August 20, 1894, No. 44,384; in Germany January 15, 1895, No. 84,908; in Hungary May 1'7 I 1895,1io.2,405; in Belginm January 18,1896, No. 119,396; in France January 21, 1896, No. 253,344; in Switzerland February 11,18961N0- i 12,029; in Spain February 22, 1896,110. 18,694, and in Italy March 13, 1896,110. 40,773/5'7.

T 0 all whom it may concern.-

.Be it known that I, LOUIS BOLLMANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at II Obere Donaustrasse 93, Vienna, in the Empire of Austria-Hungary, have invented Improvements on Turbines Driven by Steam or Gas, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, and for which I have obtained Letters Patent in Austria, dated August 20, 1891, No. 4 1,384; in I-Iungary, dated May 17, 1895, No. 2,405; in England, dated April 5, 1894, No. 6,822; in Germany, dated January 15, 189:3,No. 84,908; in Belgium, dated January 18, 1896, No. 119,396; in Italy,dated March 13, 1896, No. 40,773/5'7; in France, dated J'anuaryZl, 1896, No. 253,314; in Spain, dated February 22, 1896, No. 18,691, and in Switcerland February 11, 1896, No. 12,029.

My invention relates to turbines worked by steam or gas 3 and its object is, first, toreduce the speed with which such motors have till now been rotating, and, secondly, to expand the steam or gas usefully to a very high degree, so that its efiect will be equal to any other steam or gas motor.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a partial section and partial elevation of a turbine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section showing a modification. Fig. 3 is a front elevation thereof. Fig. 4. is a vertical section of another modification. Fig. 5 is a front elevation thereof.

Fig. 6 is a vertical sect-ion of another modification. Fig. 7 is a section at right angles to Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is apartial section and partial elevation of another modification Fig. 9 is a front View thereof. Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic View of guides employed. Fig. 11 is a section, on an enlarged scale, illustrating the form of channels in the bucket-wheels. Fig. 12 is a detail of buckets employed and being a section substantially on the line 11 11 of Fig. 1, and Figs. 13 and 14: are views designed to illustrate the principle of my invention.

In order to explain the nature of part of my invention, I will first call attention to the following experiment: A and B in Fig. 13 are is drawn toward it, even if a weight is attached to it. On account of its m's zlnertice the air tends to retain the velocity with which it is passed through the tube a, but as the area of its passage between the plates is increasing toward the periphery of the latter this velocity can only be kept up if the air expands below the pressure and density of the atmosphere. A space of rarefied air is therefore produced, against which the outside air presses and thus holds plate B freely suspended toward plate A.

If the air or steam is of high pressure, an expansive force is set free between the plates by which the velocity of escape is increased much beyond that due to the boiler-pressure.

If the latter is ten atmospheres, the escaping steam will have only 0.29 atmosphere; It is obvious that the entire energy of expansion and of the boiler-pressure will be accumulated as Ms inertt'ce in the current, giving it a velocity of three thousand five hundred and fifty feet per second.

In Fig. 1, A and B are plates of the system above explained for Fig. 13. A. has a tube a,

into which is fitted the stud hot plate B. Its

inner part is fluted, forming channels for leading the steam, which enters through pipe E, toward the plates. Suitable arrangements are made to adjust the distance between the plates, by a hand-wheel or otherwise, in order to regulate the admittance ot the steam.

K K are two disks so situated that the disk-like current escaping from A B passes between them. They have apertures on their sides, through which air enters, as indicated by arrows. The areas of these apertures can be regulated by circular slides J J, or in any other way, in order to adjust the quantity of air admitted.

The air has an intense affinity to mix with steam and to diffuse with it, the more so by the arrangement of this invention, whereby the steam-current has the form of a very thin flat disk, (for a seven-horsepower motor its thickness being only one two-hundred-andioo eightieth part ofan inch, the plates A B being three and one-half inches in diameter,) which increases on its way toward the circumference of the plates K K and presents, therefore, an immense area of surface to'the air- The mixture passes then into the turbine at a moderate velocity proportional to the difference of the weights of steam and air. Asthe mixture is forced toward G a rarefied space is produced near A B, which draws in fresh air by suction.

If for one pound of steam of ten atmospheres forty pounds of cold air of 50 Fahrenheit (equals 10 centigrade) are admitted, the mixture of air, steam, and condensed water (the latter remaining suspended in it) will have at G a temperature of 86 Fahrenheit, (equals 30 centigrade,) the air beingthereby expanded accordingly at the cost of steam thereby condensed; Another part of steam is condensed by its expansion between the plates A B.

According to the mechanical theory of heat is the entire energy generated between the plates A B and K K equal to that which steam can produce if it is expanded until its temperature is reduced from 47 3 Fahrenheit (the temperature at ten atmospheres) to 86 Fahrenheit (the temperature of the mixture) or its pressure from ten to one twenty-fourth atmosphere. The heat thus transferred to the air produces in the latter the same energy as if it had remained in the steam to expand the same to the same temperature.

Suppose a in Fig. 14: to be an open tube, with a small one, (1, below, through which steam flows upward and forces the air entering from below up through a. On the way -the air is heated and expanded. Now in regard to this expansion the tube represents a vessel closed on its bottom, because the cur-- rent of steam prevents a downward motion. The expansion can therefore act only upward by accelerating the velocity of the air. This is the effect produced between the plates K K by the heating and expansion of the air.

If the proportion of steam and air (one to forty) given above as an example is used, the mixture will obtain at G a velocity of five hundred and sixteen feet per second, which is about one-seventh of that with which the steam is discharged from the plates A B. This velocity will produce in a single turbine wheel of twenty inches active diameter about three thousand revolutions per minute, which speed is for general use still too high, although it is only oneseventh of that produced in a rational turbine with the steam acting directly. It can be further reduced either by allowing more air to mix with the steam or by using any of the following arrangements of the turbine:

Fig. 1 shows a serial turbinehaving three circles of stationary guiding-buckets L L L, connected to the stand or support H, and three circles of rotating wheel-buckets T T" T, cast in one and fastened to the shaft W, bearing partly in the stand H and on the right end in suitable bearings. (Not shown.) The forms of the buckets of the wheel and of the two guiding-circles L L are similar to those T, (shown in Fig. 12,) which is a circular cross-section through line 11 11 in Figs. 1 and 4. i That of the first guides L is like those L in Fig. 11. All guiding-buckets are curved reversely to those of the wheel.

The mixture flows from G through guides L into the buckets T of the wheel, thence through the second guides L, in which the tangential direction of the current is reversed, so as to enter the wheel-buckets T in the same direction as in the first ones T. In like manner flows the current through the buckets L into the circular space S, and then through the exhaust-pipe S od into the air.

The turbine Fig. 1 is supposed to act with seven-horse power and rotate eight hundred times per minute, its diameter in the middle of the buckets being twenty inches. The velocity of the mixture is reduced in the turbine from five hundred and fifteen to one hundred feet per second. The current contains, therefore, only 3.7 per cent. of the energy it had before entering the turbine.

Figs. 2 and 3 show a modification of the turbine, the wheel-buckets being radial instead of axial- Only one circle of stationary guidin -buckets L and three rotating circles (two of which, T and T rotate in one and one, T in the other direction) are hereby used. T and T are cast in one and fastened to the hollow shaft X, While the single one is connected to shaft W, which bears in X. The

latter bearsin the frame 5 and in another bearing. (Not shown.)

The current passes from the mixing-space between K K through guides L into the buckets T thence through those,T ,which r0- tate in opposite directions, and lastly through T into space S and off through pipe S. The guides L L of Fig. 1 are hereby avoided and the current passes ina more straight line through the turbine. The power can be transmitted from the two shafts by straight and crossed belts.

Figs. 4 and 5 show another arrangement having only a single wheel T the general construction of the parts being substantially like those in Fig. 1.

The forms of the guiding and wheel buckets L and T are shown in Fig. 12 in section through the line 11 11. The channels of the wheel T are made conical, as is shown in Figs. 4 and 11, each representing a conical diverging tube in which a current in the direction of the arrows 1 and 2 produces a sucking action at the wider end 19, similar to that above described for the plate A B in Fig. 13.

The atmospheric pressure acts on both ends of the tube, driving the current on at the narrower end 0 and retarding it at the wider one 19; but as the area is larger at p the retardation is greater than the acceleration at o, and consequently the velocity of escape is reduced.

If the proportion of the weight of steam and air is one to forty, as-above stated for Fig. 1, the sectional area of the channels of the wheel T should be three times as wide at the discharging side than at the entrance in order to produce the same effect of reducing the velocity of escape of the mixture and of the rotations of the wheel. The driving force is increased by the rcactin g pressure of the outside air acting on both sides of the channels in the direction of rotation. I

A second circle of guidingbuckets M, Fig. 12, may be placed near the discharging side of the wheel, guidingthe current away in axial direction. They will act similar to the atmosphere in reducing the velocity if conical channels are used.

Experiments have shown that for large n10- tors alonger distance is required for perfectly mixing a sufficient quantity of air with the steam than can be obtained between the plates K K without increasing their diameter to an impracticable extent. The air is at first forced along by the flat steam-current with accelerating velocity, and it requires a certain time and length of way until steam and air have acquired the same speed.

Figs. 8 and 9 show an arrangement for increasing the distance for mixing and for furthering the diffusion of the steam and air. Fig. 10 is a diagram showing the circumference of the turbine in section through the line 10 10, Fig. 8, in fiat extended condition, being half size of Figs. 8 and 9. The mixture flows through the guiding-channels L from the space between K K into the circular space R in such direction that it must rotate the same, as is indicated by the arrows in Fig. 10. m are partitions placed screw-like into the space B, so as to guide every part of the current to make one revolution before it can enter the second guides L and the buckets of the wheel T The guiding-buckets L divide the flat current into single streams, each consisting of a central part of higher velocity surrounded by air which has not yet acquired the full speed. These streams are stratified side by side, which, entering the space R, produce thereby a most perfect mixing of the current while it makes the long way in the circle. The quantity of air admitted for one pound of steam can be increased by this arrangement, which is economically favorable and allows also a reduction of the revolutions of the turbine wheel. By increasing the dimensions of the space R- and the number of partitions m and disposing the latter accordingly the mixture can be forced to rotate more than once before it enters the turbine.

The space R may be formed so that its section Fig. 8 is like a reversed S, the current rotating screw-like at first from left to right, as in the figures, then from right to left, and, lastly again to the right toward the wheel.

The partitions m may be omitted, the freelyrotating current finding itself the screw-like way toward the wheel.

It the front plate K is formed as a ring, so

as to be open in the middle until near 71; in Fig. 8, the atmospheric pressure holds the uncovered part of the current toward the inner plate K, giving it the appearance of a plate of glass. The quantity of air admitted can then be regulated by alterin gthe distance between plate K and the ring-plate K. The form of the current passing from the plates A B may be altered in several ways. It may be conical instead of flat by forming and arranging the platesA l3 and K K accordingly. It may also be formed of many fine jets flowing in radial or conical direction.

This invention can as well be applied to turbines driven by pressed or heated air or any other gas-as, for example, coal-gas which has been previously burned or exploded. Goal-gas may be pressed through the plates A B and burned or exploded between the plates K K',or in a separate space connected to it near their center, or, vice versa, air may be pressed through A B and the gas admitted to it, or both might be mixed previously and pressed through the plates and burned in the space between K K, the very close space between the plates A B preventing the ignition to pass to the center. The air or gas maybe pressed into the mixing-space K K by a pump or any other contrivance.

Figs. (3 and '7 show an arrangement for reducin g the enormous high velocity with which the steam passes according to the other figures into the space for mixing it with the air.

The mixing-space between the plates K K is formed into conical spiral channels 7& Fig. 6, narrow near the center and wide toward the circumference. They have suitable apertures k to admit outside air (which are shown in Fig. 6 only for one of the four channels) and are made of such an angle to the channels that the air must enter nearly in the direction of the current. The conical form of the channels and the slant direction of the ainholes produce a suction for drawing in the air if the steam or the mixture flows with a velocity much lower than that produced by plates A B in Figs. land 13. For steam of ten atmospheres this velocity might be about two hundred meters, or six hundred and seventy-five feet, per second, which is one-fifth of that for the plate A B.

If the areal dimensions of the channels are at N such that the required quantity of steam of ten atmospheres must enter them with the above velocity, air will be drawn in through the first air-hole 7;, and when the current reaches the next following hole its condition is altered according to the quantity of air previously mixed with it. By adjusting the size of each succeeding air-hole along the spiral channels to admit at every point the required quantity of air the current can be kept at a relative low velocity. The steam begins at once to impart its energy to the air entered into the expanding-channels, the interior of which acts as a resistance toward the small end N and prevents the steamto obtain a high speed, which furthers the mixin g and prevents noise and friction. The current passes'from the spirals with a rotating motion through the guides L into the buckets T of the turbine wheel. This arrangement can be combined with any of those previously described, and its form and construction may be modified in many different Ways. The plates K K, Figs. 7 and S, can be arranged so that they rotate instead of the wheel T in which case it works as a reaction or Scotch turbine. A part of the driving force is then produced by the current acting against the entering air to set it in motion, which causes a reacting pressure against the spirals. A circle of guides similar to those M in Fig. 12 might then be used around the guides L Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination with a turbine, of central plates adapted to receive steam under high pressure, plates surrounding the firstnamed plates and having mixing-chambers for receiving steam from the first named plates and openings for the admission of air, and means for regulating the air-openings, substantially as described.

2. In combination with a turbine the plates having air-inlets, the central plates A, B, or their equivalents to draw or throttle the steam (or gas) of high pressure and to form it into a flat or conical jet, suitable to be mixed with a proportional large quantity of air (or other gas) of low pressure, substantially as herein described.

3. The combination with central plates, of the plates K, K one having apertures to admit air into the mixing-space between the said plates having the form of disks, cones or tubes so that the mixing-space is enlarging toward its periphery, substantially as herein set forth.

' 4. The combination with a turbine, of the central plates for the admission of a motive agent, means for adjusting the plates to more or less enlarge the space between them, and the plates having the mixing-chambers and air-inlets, substantially as specified.

5. The combination with a turbine, of the center plates for the admission of a motive agent, the surrounding plates having mixing chambers and air-inlets, and ring-plates for regulating the air-inlets, substantially as specified.

6. The combination of a serial turbine having more than one circle of turbine buckets and guides, With the said plates A B and K K or their equivalents, substantially as described.

7. A turbine, comprising a bucket-wheel, guides at the entrance side of the buckets, guides at the exhaust sides of the buckets, and means comprising the center plates and the surrounding plates having mixing-chambers for directing steam and air to the buckets, substantially as specified.

LOUIS BOLLMANN.

Witnesses LEON DEUTscHL, HARRY BELMONT. 

